My new position at the animal shelter is quite a contrast to animal care. In the transfer department, very little remains the same from day to day. We have certain duties that need to be carried out regularly, but things about them always vary. Things are generally very fast paced, but I'm not sure if that's just the learning of a new job or if things are actually faster than my previous position.
My job involves a lot of driving in rather large vehicles. Mostly just to shelters in the metro area, but also to our other shelter location down in Castle Rock. We also have a few partner shelters out of state.
My second week of work, I drove our box truck (moving truck size) to the north west corner of Texas. I started from Denver around 5pm and arrived five and a half hours later at 12:30 (central). I awoke at 6:30 and downed some coffee before driving to the shelter and loading up the dogs. It was an uneventful trip, really. Besides the driving at night and the fact that this was likely the last trip anyone from my job will make to that shelter.
Just this week, we received a bunch of dogs and cats from Puerto Rico. I didn't help with the intake, but will certainly dabble in the ongoing paperwork.
For the first time in a long time, I find myself actually liking my job. I rarely hated my last position, but I was usually unable to feel very positive about it. While I definitely still make sure to take my breaks and use my weekends, I find the days do not crawl tediously by as they used to.
It is a lot more sedentary than I've been used to. While I am very active for short bursts loading and unloading animals, much of my day is spent either in the driver's seat or in front of a computer. But that just means I need to use my three weekend days to be active.
Really, the only thing that could make it more enjoyable is having Saturday and Sunday off as well as a weekday, instead of only one weekend day and two weekdays. But with a department of only 2 and a manager, schedules are tough. One can dream.
